Planet Kri Kri

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Voga Longa

Our travels evolved from a three legged trip into a spider, an octopus and then this truely amazing, many limbed creature.

I am only the eyes!

Here is one of the appendages!

This was our first trip to Venice, and what a way to see it!

Gondolas!!

The Bridge of Sighs!
We participated in The Voga Longa, a non-competetive race that was more like a pageant then anything else.

Here is the "We", Jenn Cleck, Giorgio Sartori, Nigel Foster, Kristin Nelson, before the race.

There were boats from all over, Switzerland, France and Germany, as well as rowers and paddlers from different regions of Italy, wearing traditional dress.

The "wine boat", sponsored by a local vineyard.

Yellow gondola meets rowing scull.

The course took us out to Burano, the lace making island and through Murano, the glass making center.

Coffee break on Burano.

Finally, we entered the Grand Canale and made it to the finish at San Marco.

Dragon boat drummer giving a pulse to the last kilometers.

The cafes were all packed and people poured over their balconies to watch and cheer on the racers as they neared the finish.

Bottle neck as we re-enter the canal.

The day was spectacular!!

You can join us next year, if you like!

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Three Leg Tour

It all depends on how you look at it. Maybe it's 2 or 4 or 5 legs!

But, May 6th Nigel and I depart for Venice, Italy, Stockholm (yes, Sweden!) and from there, take an airplane to Bergen Norway to catch a ferry to Iceland via the Faeroe Islands.

We will participate in The Voga Longa and teach at the Bibione Symposium south of Venice.

Neither Nigel nor I have been to Italy before and we are especially looking forward to this unique opportunity to paddle in Venice when there will be no motor traffic!

While in Sweden we will be teaching staff from the major sports outlet in Hungary.

And there will be some business meetings with Point 65.

Then, it's on to Iceland!

This portion of our travels is particularly meaningful because Nigel and his friend, Geoff Hunter were the first people to circumnavigate the island in 1977. At that time there were no kayaks in Iceland and now, he has been invited back to teach.We have decided to take the ferry, in part because that is how Nigel made his earlier journeys there with kayaks. This means a bonus visit to the Faeroe Islands, the islands midway between Norway and Iceland, a place I first heard about from my friend Mary Jane Mucklestone. One family vacation in the late 60's, her father flew the four of them in their single engine plane from Seattle to Europe. They made a few stops along the way including one in the Faeroes.

The legs of this trip are quite contrasting yet each one is significant. (I have been preparing by studying Italian and Icelandic and talk about opposites!!)

But I look forward to the impact they will have individually and as a series of experiences.

There most certainly will be some unexpected connections made and some twisted tendrels to untangle back in the studio.

Until June...